CHAPTER V.

Of Creation.

SECTION I.

CREATION, in the primary sense in which it is used in Scripture, signifies the giving of existence to that which did not exist before; in a secondary acceptation, it means the production of one form or kind of matter out of another dissimilar in its nature and properties.

§ 2. The Creation of all things invisible and visible, is declared in the inspired writings of the Old and the New Testaments, to be the stupendous and admirable work of God the Father, by the Son and with the cooperation of the Holy Spirit.

§3. By the Creation of things invisible, is understood the Almighty's causing to exist out of nothing, by the exercise of his infinite power, the highest heavens, and their inhabitants the angelic Spirits; and also the chaotic mass from which the material and vísible Universe was formed.

§ 4. That" the Heavens and the Earth" were originally produced from nothing, is plainly revealed

matter cannot be co-eternal with God,-for if it were so, God would not be the great First Cause ;-the Paramount Power;-nor would matter be subject to his will.

§ 5. The invisible World, is the highest or "third heaven," the more immediate presence-chamber of the Deity, the habitation of Angels, and of the Spirits of just Men made perfect.

§ 6. The existence of Angels, spiritual and incorporeal beings, who are, as their name denotes, the Messengers of Jehovah, is obviously asserted in Scripture; and that they are created, not self-existent beings, is to be inferred from their being subservient to the Divine Authority. They are immortal Spirits, having no principle of corruption; endued with knowledge, extensive but not unlimited,-with freewill, or they had not been obnoxious to eternal punishment, with super-human power, and a capacity of the most rapid locomotion; and they are extremely

numerous.

$7. The Angels were all created holy and upright, but are now divided into two classes of good and evil Spirits, the former having preserved their original innocence and state of favour with God; the latter having fallen from their allegiance, and become followers of the Devil.

§ 8. The first class is appointed to benevolent and happy offices, to attend upon, and to celebrate the praises of their God,-to announce his pleasure to mankind,-to execute the divine decrees,-to watch over, support, console, and assist,-to correct and chasten those who are the children of God, and heirs

of Salvation, and at last to bear their disembodied souls to the realms of peace and happiness.

§ 9. The second class consists of the opposers of God, and the enemies of Man, of whom the chief is Satan. They are permitted to exercise a restricted dominion upon earth, to tempt and to prove, to seduce and to afflict mankind, to harden the hearts of the impenitent, to lead the wicked to destruction, and finally to execute the just vengeance of heaven upon the heirs of condemnation.

$10. The Creation of the visible World, out of preexisting matter which was "without form, and void," took place, according to the account of Moses, the inspired historian of the Jews, in six days; such being the decree of infinite wisdom, that the production and arrangement of the several parts of the material Universe, should occupy certain determinate periods, rather than instantaneously spring forth into being, entire and finished, at the fiat of Omnipotence.

§ 11. On the first day, after that the Eternal Spirit had brooded over the unorganized elements of all things, and by the divine energy had given impulse to the primordial mass, "God said, Let there be Light, and there was Light." It may be supposed that the particles of this subtle and elastic fluid, separated from the denser matter, and were at once so brought together and arranged, as to produce a division of Light from Darkness, a succession similar to that of evening and morning; and to constitute, what is denominated by the Sacred Writer, "the First Day."

§ 12. The work of the Second Day includes the emptying of the vast expanse of Firmament, and the separation of the waters of the system; those which

were to occupy the surface of the earth, from those which were to have their destination above the Firmament, or lower Heaven.

§ 13. On the Third Day, the waters which were below the firmament, were gathered together from their general diffusion over the face of this globe within certain bounds, and the dry land appeared between the "Seas." No sooner had the receding waters exposed the prolific earth to the influence of light and heat, than its surface was furnished with a vegetable covering; and the mode of reproduction established in each species of herb and tree.

§14. On the Fourth Day, the solar system was completed: The Sun and Moon were made, and subjected to those universal laws which still preserve them in their relative situations, with regard to this and other parts of the complicated fabric of the Universe. God made the fixed Stars also, which spangle the firmament far beyond the distance of the two great lights which were appointed to give light, the one by day and the other by night, to this terrestrial globe.

§ 15. On the Fifth Day, the first production of animated creatures took place, replenishing abundantly the air and water with tenants fitted to their respective elements. The fowl which was adapted to fly through the atmosphere that surrounds the earth, and the fish to swim in its various waters, received the blessing of God, and the order to perpetuate their kind, "Be fruitful and multiply."

§ 16. On the Sixth Day, were formed from the earth itself, terrestrial animals, all four-footed beasts and creeping things. And as the last pre-eminent work of the Almighty's hand, was MAN created, in the image, after the likeness of his Creator. To him was given dominion over all the living creatures which had been previously produced, and, as sustenance, every nutritious plant which grew around him. "And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold it was very good." Thus the Heavens with their splendid luminaries, and the Earth with its various tribes, animate and inanimate, with which the air, and sea, and land are furnished, together with man the appointed Lord of all, were brought to consummate excellence at the termination of the Sixth Day.

§ 17. When the Earth was rendered a delightful and convenient habitation, and not till then, it pleased God to create man ;-" male and female created he them." By the Almighty Power, and to illustrate the glory of God, the most perfect of all his works, of the most complicated and beautiful structure, was formed from the Dust of the Earth. The human body was made superior to that of all other animals, in the peculiar adaptation of its members and organs to the service of the living soul, which was intended to give it animation. Into this body, so wonderfully constructed, the Almighty infused a rational and immortal Spirit, immaterial, distinct from and independant of the body, endued with understanding and freewill. The first woman Eve, the mother of all living, was formed of a bone taken from the side of Adam, the first man, during a deep sleep which the Lord God caused to fall upon him; and she was gifted with